Product Description

Dressed in classic two-tone vinyl, running on one power and one preamp valve and featuring bone-simple controls, the Bugera V5 looks like a carefully constructed nostalgia trip. In fact, in many ways, it is. But plug into this beautiful little amp and you'll not only find a sound that's caked in real vintage raunch, but also modern features that take this sound to places it couldn't go -- until now.

Big Sound, Small Package

Rock music brings to mind amplifiers as big as skyscrapers, dishing out irreversible ear damage at ruthless volumes. But a studio secret among guitar greats is that little low-watt valve combos like the V5 can be maxed out for red-hot overdriven tone without blowing fuses or incurring any property damage.

The V5 is a living, breathing homage to those half-pint screamers of the past, but with two very important improvements. See, this amp may be small, but 5 watts in Valvesville is still loud as hell when it's sitting in your bedroom. That's why the V5 features a switchable power attenuator that allows you to run 5, 1 or 0.1 Watts. An attenuator reduces the amplitude of a signal without changing its sound. That means you can still drive the valves into banshee-league fury, but without waking up the neighbors.

Finding a headphone out jack on an all-valve guitar amp is incredibly rare because the integration requires loading the output transformer and filtering the signal for a loudspeaker simulation. (Translation: it's a pain in the ass) But in true Bugera fashion, we've gone the extra mile to allow you some late night practicing.

Just plug in a pair of headphones to the 1/4" phones jack on the back panel, and you're ready to keep the V5's all-valve sound all to yourself. Then again, if it's more volume you need, the V5 has a 1/4" Speaker Out jack that allows you to connect an additional speaker with a minimum impedance of 4 Ohms. This dangerous dandy also features the same studio-caliber digital reverb found in its bigger Bugera brothers. The spring reverb found in the V5's post-war predecessors sounds lovely, but is delicate and expensive to repair. The V5's modern update gives you an equally mesmerizing vintage reverb sound without the wallet-draining vintage reliability.

Little Wonder

With the V5 in your home or studio, your tonal woes are over. It bears the true sound of an antique 5W valve amp, it's built to survive abuse, and its price tag is tons lighter than the ones you' ll find tied to its elders. Adopt a V5 today and get ready to pack 60 years of sonic inspiration into your recording or practice sessions.

Sound:
Let me start by saying I didn't buy this amp from Zzounds. I didn't even buy it new. I bought it used from a national storefront chain. I've had low-power "practice" amps before and have been mostly disappointed by how thin the sound was. I have a Bugera V22 and love the tone. Somehow, this tiny amp sounds exactly like my V22 does when the volume on that more powerful amp is turned down to play in my apartment's living room.
Feature:
Unlike most tube amps, this baby has a 1/4" headphone socket for private playing and another one to use to drive an external speaker.
Ease of Use:
Unless you're totally new to electric guitars, how to use this amp is obvious. There is a manual, which is sparse, but what is there to know?
Quality:
I've only had mine for a while and even though it was used, it was in "new" condition. Based on first impressions, the construction seems very good.
Value:
From what I can see, nothing else in the same price bracket comes close. It's a steal at the typical street price.
The Wow Factor:
If you like the retro look, this amp has it in spades. How many amps come with bird beak knobs anymore. I love the black and cream color scheme and the metallic fabric.
Overall:
It's louder than you might expect and would certainly do in a situation like a coffeehouse. A noisy bar or nightclub, not so much. But it's really a practice amp, anyway, isn't it?

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"Exactly what i was looking for"

Overall:
I am somewhat new to playing guitar. In my quest for the sound in my head I have tried many amps. This amp has a sound all its own. The 8" and open back can get plenty loud at 5 watts. I like the switchable attenuator and have found I prefer the 1 watt setting in my third floor apartment and manipulate gain and volume to keep the sound low. I use a few pedals with it. The Analog Man modded Ibanez Tube Screamer and El Rey Fuzz de la Muerte sound fantastic. I don't think it sounds "dark" as I have heard others describe. If by that they mean it is not as bright and chimey as a Fender than they are right. I use this for rock and blues riffs and noodling around for practice. The reverb is good in my opinion. I owned many smallish amps before settling on this as my go to. Orange micro terror head with 8" cab, fender super champ xd, vox vt20+. even a few other all valve amps. I haven't used the headphone output, but my expectations are that it would be pretty lackluster. I am able to get the sound I want at a volume so low that I can here the guitar picking over the amp.

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